Friday, January 8, 2016

Oh No! Irish Fancy Hens Hint of Developing Brood Patch Part 1

My plans are to breed in March but my Irish Fancy hens hint that they have other plans as they are developing brood patches. A brood patch is featherless skin that is well supplied with blood vessels at the surface to transfer heat to their incubating eggs. To develop a brood patch the hen will loose some feathers in the area.

The brood patch is a strong message that love is in the air and nesting is coming much sooner than I planned!

Note the new feather indentation in the lower abdomen that makes a line clear to the vent.

This one's line looks more full in the lower abdomen along the line especially as you approach the vent area and sure enough she was even setting in the seed cup. (Same hen as directly above this picture.)

Whenever birds change aviaries at this time of year, the change in diet, temperature, and humidity can be stimulating even when we keep the same total number of day light hours and birds from our aviary are several weeks or a couple of months away from breeding.

7 comments:

Evon in WI
said...

Linda, I've had the same thing happen when I brought birds back from the National show. I wanted to get them to settle in before starting the conditioning diet. I'm not sure I make the right decision about letting "mother nature" rule the aviary. I've had mixed results, 2 hens with clear eggs,1 feeding and 1 ready to hatch this weekend. Do you let the hens proceed with their instincts or try to hold them back.Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Thank YOU Linda, Great tips as usual. I'm letting the hens sit on the infertile eggs as you suggested. I'll let the breeding season start here in Wi. I believe the stable warmer weather we have had in WI has also influenced the birds.

I have a new hen that I purchased 3 weeks ago. She is active, eating well, bathing daily, but has started losing feathers. I thought she might be developing a brood paych. But see no sign of it. Could this be a soft molt. And if so, what can I do to stop it?

Hopefully you know what the hen was use to for total daylight hours as any drop will likely precipitate a molt. Finding long feathers signals a full molt.

Soft molt is small feathers. To stop it put multiple vitamin B in the water and make it canary yellow. I like the liquid World Organic Brand. In addition, drop all protein and feed high carb including oatmeal and bread.

2011 Visitor Counter

Visitor Counter

Search This Blog

Big Bird

About Me

My first canary memory was early childhood as my mother raised about 100 canaries each year. During the breeding season, she was always finding a young chick which she said needed hand feeding. I would use a toothpick to stuff its crop with eggfood. It never occurred to me that each time it was a different chick! I still have a weakness for hand feeding although I rarely do it as the mothers food is far superior. When I was 16, I adopted an elderly "grandmother" and she raised German rollers. I would sit for hours and listen to her green roller singers. I banded my first birds in 1980. I achieved master breeder exhibitor status in color-bred canaries and German Rollers.
I became a judge and hold judging credentials from the Central States Roller Canary, National Colorbred, Stafford Canary, North American Border and Old Varieties Canary Associations. I have judged shows all over the US including Puerto Rico and Canada.
My book "The Complete Canary Handbook, Canary Tales" is in its 14th edition and sells worldwide. In a typical year, I breed around 150 canaries. My current aviary includes German Rollers, Borders, Staffords, and Colorbreds.